Update: Pueblo Catholic diocese responds to alleged abuse
Posted : Mar 18, 2010 7:37 PM
PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) - The Roman Catholic diocese of Pueblo says they will investigate sexual abuse claims made by a California man about a former priest more than 40 years ago.
John Yengich filed a lawsuit late Wednesday against the Pueblo diocese, saying Daniel Maio sexually abused him from 1968 to 1969 while Maio was the youth director for the diocese. The lawsuit says
the diocese knew Maio was abusing children.
Monsignor Mark Plewka said Thursday he has not seen the complaint and declined to comment on the particulars of the case. He said this is the first and only complaint the diocese has ever received concerning Maio.
Plewka says Maio was ordained in 1966 and left the ministry in 1974. Maio died in 2006.
Kathie at Mar 18th 2010 10:32 PM
I am Catholic, but all of this negativity and reports of child abuse are starting to upset me. Recently I requested (local parish on Pueblo's eastside)a special blessing for my niece, (only 24 years old) who will be undergoing intensive medical studies at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, AZ. I did not feel that my request was "out of the norm" for such a situation. We had planned a small family reunion and out-of-town family members had made arrangements to come to Pueblo. I was asked a series of questions by the secretary (I will call him Larry). The most vital question he asked was "are you registered here?", I answered no and asked him why it mattered, I was Catholic and was welomed in any Catholic church in the world. At that point he,very rudely told me that there would be a $10 charge for such a request. It wasn't about the money, it was about the insensetivity and rudness with regard to his tone when he informed me of the charge. I giggled a bit and then asked him "since when does God charge for blessings? A blessing is a free ritual and should be adhered to." He then replied, well if this church cannot acommodate your needs at this time, then you can go to another church and hung up on me. Within a few minutes, my niece (who is registered at the specific parish) received a call from Larry and told her that he was very upset at the lady who tried to schedule something for her niece and that I had been very rude to him. Well needless to say, my niece, without asking me what happened left me a nasty voicemail regarding her and Larry's conversation. This got so out of control, that the entire blessing was canceled and now my family is divided and angry over of the conduct of my niece towards me. I did report Larry's behavior to the Diocese of Pueblo Pastoral Center and how his gossip ruined a very important and emotional event in our family. I was told, by the Human Resource Director, that she would look into the matter and she apologized. Right...they don't even look into alledged child abuse and they were going to look into my small complaint. I think NOT. So Larry will continue to treat people that are not registered in his church with disrespect and likewise sell blessings for the church (or maybe himself, who knows).
I suppose that the reason I told my story is: why does a Catholic charge for blessings, baptismals, weddings, funerals, etc. These are and should be gifts from God (I don't think Jesus ever charged anyone). Yet they hide behind the cloth when it comes to child abuse? I have begun to notice that the Catholic church treats this disgusting behavior like the "elephant in the living room"...it's there and everyone sees it but totally ignore it, just as if it was invisible. Our church is becoming greedy and insensitive. Money, money, money. So I suppose the money you pay to the church goes towards your purchase of a seat on a train that goes to Heaven.